Marathwada

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT MARATHWADA - PAGE 2

MUMBAI: Maharashtra government will provide a relief package for the drought-affected areas of Marathwada and Vidarbha soon, Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse said here today. "I will soon visit the drought-affected areas in Marathwada and western Maharashtra with Rural Development Minister Pankaja Munde , and review the situation," Khadse told reporters this evening. "The government will announce a relief package during the winter session of the state legislature beginning at Nagpur on December 8," the minister said.

MUMBAI: Former Shiv Sena Lok Sabha MP Shivaji Mane, till now Hingoli district Congress President, today joined NCP, saying he was feeling "suffocated" in the Congress. Mane joined NCP in the presence of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at a function in party office here this morning. He said Youth Congress President Rajeev Satav, who hails from Hingoli, a district in Marathwada region, was functioning in an "autocratic" manner. "I was feeling suffocated in the Congress and was being ignored.

MUMBAI: A day after Uddhav Thackeray asserted that Shiv Sena is all prepared to be a strong opposition in Maharashtra, his party today said it will take up the issue of drought-affected farmers in the winter session of the state legislature beginning at Nagpur next month. A delegation of Sena leaders today met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the issue and sought immediate measures for affected farmers. "We told chief minister Devendra Fadnavis that the government should not wait for Central assistance and instead take immediate measures to provide relief to drought-hit areas, including those in Marathwada," senior Sena leader Ramdas Kadam told reporters this evening.

BEED: Bollywood star Salman Khan's 'Being Human' foundation has come forward to offer help in the drought-hit Marathwada region of Maharashtra. The foundation will provide 2,500 water tankers with a storage capacity of 2,000 litres each to the drought affected districts of Marathwada from May 6 to 31, according to an e-mail received recently by the Aurangabad Divisional Commissioner from Salman's 'Being Human' Foundation. Beed Residential District Collector B M Kamble said they had also received a mail regarding this from the divisional commissioner yesterday.

MUMBAI: In a judgement that will have impact on state's economy as well as its politics, the Bombay High Court today upheld powers of the Maharashtra Governor to allocate funds for removing backlog of Vidarbha and Marathwada regions. Also, article 371 of Constitution, under which the Governor gets these powers, is not in conflict with 'basic structure' of the Constitution, the court said. The decision by division bench of Justices S Radhakrishnan and A V Mohta comes as a setback for politicians of western Maharashtra.

MUMBAI: Former Union home minister and veteran Congress leader S B Chavan died here today after a prolonged illness.Chavan had carved a niche for himself as an astute administrator, that earned him the sobriquet of a "headmaster" in government circles. Shankarrao Bhaurao Chavan was one of the last Gandhi family loyalists, who had the opportunity to closely watch all three prime ministers from the Nehru-Gandhi clan. Chavan, who enjoyed the rare distinction of assuming the mantle of chiefministership of Maharashtra twice, will be remembered for his role as Union home minister in the Narasimha Rao government, when the Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992.

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena today demanded that Marathwada and Vidarbha regions of the state be declared as drought-hit and Governor C Vidyasagar Rao should tour the areas alongwith the party leaders. "Our goal is to prevent farmers' suicides. I have conveyed to the Governor the expectations people have attached to the new (BJP) government and demanded that Marathwada and Vidarbha regions be declared as drought-hit immediately," Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray said. Thackeray was speaking to reporters after meeting the Governor alongwith 15 Sena MLAs.

MUMBAI: Former Maharashtra minister Balasaheb Thorat today opposed release of water from reservoirs in Ahmednagar and Nashik districts into the Jayakwadi dam in Marathwada region. "We feel that water from western Maharashtra and Konkan should be diverted to Jayakwadi to resolve the scarcity problem, instead of depriving people from Ahmednagar and Nashik districts of their share," Thorat, who hails from Ahmednagar, told reporters here. "Depriving people of water is not okay.

MUMBAI: The widening regional rift, and its political repercussions, may threaten state finance minister Jayant Patil's rosy fiscal plans. The tiff between the agro-rich and politically-strong Western Maharashtra and the impoverished Vidarbha and Marathwada regions has always been the hallmark of the state's polity. The leaders from Marathwada and Vidarbha have regularly criticised the government for its 'step-motherly' treatment to these regions. In order to be fair in distributing resources across all regions, the Maharashtra governor, under Article 371 of the Constitution, has been empowered to monitor funds for the backward regions which are disbursed by the development boards.

BEED: Beed, one of the worst drought-hit districts in the Marathwada region in the heart of Maharashtra, is a study in contrasts. People struggle everyday to get their daily quota of water, which is usually supplied by tankers. Roads in Beed are badly maintained. However they do have 24-hour connectivity with the rest of the world. Mobile phones are common among farmers. It's brought to your notice by local residents that it takes less than two hours to reach Aurangabad, compared to four hours previously, due to a widening of the existing road.